MAMMALS. 





the species represented in the cut, the slender loris, or Ceylon sloth. H. is 

 sluggish and inactive even at night, when it hunts for its prey, h eats 

 rice, fruit, and vegetables; but it is also fond of flesh and insects, and in 

 capturing its animal food its mode is characteristic. It approaches in a 

 stealthy manner, and then extends one of those long arms so slowly that 

 the prey is not alarmed until it is seized by that peculiar hand. In sleep- 

 ing it assumes the most uncouth and grotesque postures. The eyes are 

 very peculiar, large and with a very small pupil. Indeed, the CinghaL 





Fig. 533. — Spectre (Tarsius spectrum ). 





recognize them as something strange and wonderful ; and when a lover 

 wishes a charm to render him successful in affairs of the heart, he catches. 

 one Of these animals, holds it before the fire until the eyeballs burst, and 

 then takes these organs, which are supposed to be of great efficacy so 

 prepared. 



The head of a cat, the teeth and tail of a squirrel, the hands of a miser, 

 and the feet of a monkey have been enumerated as characteristics of the 

 strangest inhabitant of Madagascar, the aye-aye, so called from the noise 

 which it makes, and not from any Malagassy exclamation of surprise, as 

 often stated. It is a strange creature which was formerly regarded as a. 



